Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday. While it was one of the better super bowl games – football wise – the outcome was not to my liking. But I digress.

Super bowl is as much about the eating as the game and commercials (overall another disappointment this year.) George and I generally stay home to watch the game. Sometimes we have people over, but this year we were cheering solo. I offered to make Gumbo for game day but George was all about the grazing. So snack foods it was. We had the traditional things; pita chips and dip, chicken tenders, cold shrimp, deviled eggs and cheese spread and crackers. I was going to make my pimento cheese until I found a recipe for beer cheese. I wondered how close it was to pimento cheese and, for a moment or two , went back and forth on which recipe to use. The beer cheese sounded intriguing so it won the coin toss. A good call on my part.

This is a zippy cheese that gets it bite from garlic and cayenne pepper. And unlike pimento cheese, beer cheese uses only cheddar – no american cheese to soften the cheddar edges. I served it with crackers and bread rounds. I can see so many uses for this spread; on buns with hamburgers, mixed with roasted cauliflower, on top baked potatoes, or even mixed with pasta. The possibilities are almost endless!

Here’s my version of Beer Cheese Spread

8 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1 large clove garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/8 tsp stone ground mustard

1/8 – 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (add to taste)

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

1/3 cup beer – preferably a wheat beer

Grate the cheese and place in the bowl of a food processor. Add the garlic, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, cayenne pepper and ground pepper. Pulse to combine. With the motor running, slowly add the beer. Continue processing until the mixture becomes smooth. It may take several minutes to remove all the lumps. Transfer cheese spread to a bowl and refrigerate, covered, for at least 4 hours and preferably overnight.

I strongly urge you to make this cheese spread at least 24 hours before you plan on serving. The flavors really meld. It will taste fine if served before then but the flavors will not have had sufficient time to meld and, as a result, you may find the garlic and or cayenne pepper very pronounced.

In case you are wondering, we did have guests staying at the B&B. And they did get to taste the cheese spread. They liked it.